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Engendering State Institutions: State Response to Violence Against Women in Latin America

Engendering State Institutions: State Response to Violence Against Women in Latin America, provides much-needed answers several questions that help us understand variation in responsiveness to violence against women and variation in state-building efforts for women: What are the conditions under which states will construct institutions that address the needs of historically marginalized groups? What explains variation in the performance of these institutions that are charged with protecting vulnerable groups and ensuring their access to justice? I examine the creation and performance of specialized policing institutions for women as examples of these broader state-building efforts. I conduct a rich in-depth comparative analysis of Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, with additional attention to Honduras and El Salvador. I draw heavily on evidence collected during 18 months of fieldwork with over 200 in-depth interviews conducted in Latin America.